


This Strange World

by Star_Crow



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Family, Future Fic, Pregnancy, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 09:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11033304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Crow/pseuds/Star_Crow
Summary: Tina had known going into her marriage that she and Newt would probably never have children. Before she’d even laid eyes on her future husband, her mother had always said that Tina was the career-girl and Queenie the home-bird.Newt hadn’t expected to ever marry in the first place.





	This Strange World

Newt and Tina Scamander had the ideal marriage to a stranger’s eye. They were both young, healthy, and shared the kind of love that some could only dream of. He was a famous author, she a high ranking Auror. They weren’t rich but they had enough. A nice apartment in London, space for their relatives to visit and for their weird and wonderful host of beasts. 

“Look at my sister, living the high life in the Old Smoke with her handsome husband.” Queenie would often say to her friends.

But, as the years rolled on, it became apparent they were missing a piece.

A family of their own.

Tina had known going into her marriage that she and Newt would probably never have children. Before she’d even laid eyes on her future husband, her mother had always said that Tina was the career-girl and Queenie the home-bird.

Newt hadn’t expected to ever marry in the first place.

And, even if they’d wanted to, Grindelwald was still out there.

The idea that he could one day come back for Newt petrified her. Newt was strong, stronger than the average wizard, but even he stood little chance against the Elder Wand. Tina had seen enough post-mortem reports on his victims to know Grindelwald wouldn’t hesitate to murder the magizoologist that put him in the custody of MACUSA. A quick death would be a stroke of luck, not a given. Newt, as per usual, was more concerned about what the wizard would do to Tina rather than himself. Tina couldn’t expect any mercy, and neither would any children, were they in the line of fire.

That promise alone was enough to keep Newt and Tina’s resolve but they had their moments. Episodes where they wavered and wished for something more. As the months turned into years, they became a more frequent occurrence for them both. They were the one thing they didn’t share with each other.

Tina got them when she saw Newt fawning over his beasts. His gentle hands and kind eyes. That natural paternal instinct that he tried so hard to suppress when he wasn’t with his creatures to save himself the heartache. 

It was easier for Tina in some ways. She had work to throw herself into when the going got tough. 

Newt did, too, but he was stuck in the house.

He pretended not to, but Newt noticed things. The quiet in the rooms that never seemed to go away completely. The empty spaces and the almost sterile cleanliness of their furniture. Tina’s odd longing gazes. The sad expression that his own mother wore whenever he saw her. 

It was hard, but they managed. They had each other and that could, and would, be enough for them.

That was until Jacob and Queenie’s baby arrived. 

Newt had been sitting at their kitchen table, perfecting the outlines on a sketch for the new edition of his book, when Tina had burst in through the front door, waving a letter in her hands. Newt had jumped a mile. 

“It’s a boy! Queenie had a boy,” Tina had said breathlessly.

Newt swallowed the lump in his throat and quirked his lips. “That’s wonderful news, dear. Are they okay?”

“They’re all great,” She pushed a photo towards Newt. “His name is Ralph.”

His eyes turned to the moving picture of what would be his nephew under his fingers. A tiny baby, lying on his back in a Moses basket, clutching onto Queenie’s outstretched fingers. Ralph Kowalski certainly had plenty of his mother in him, that was for sure. Lush golden curls and cream skin, with a sharp chin. It was Jacob’s dark irises that stared back at Newt, though. 

Newt struggled for something appeasing to say. “He looks just like your sister.”

The state that Tina was in, in that moment, reminded Newt of when she’d walked down the aisle close to three years ago with Queenie on her arm. Her smile made of blinding light, happy tears threatening to spill over.

They left for New York the next morning. 

For Tina, the trip seemed to last an eternity. She stood out on the deck of the steamer, leaning over the rails and scanning the horizon for sight of her homeland impatiently. She seemed to almost vibrate with anticipated excitement. For Newt, the journey went all too fast. With each mile they sailed away from England, a sickening sense of dread deepened in his stomach. He knew he was doing far too much inward-looking. This was about Queenie and Jacob, his family, not his own warped grieving for something he couldn’t have.

But Newt knew even then; this wasn’t going to do his marriage any good.

They stayed in New York for nearly three weeks. Newt had never seen Tina so happy. Queenie looked none the worse for wear after having a child. She’d bounced back into her lithe frame as easily as putting on an old coat. The same couldn’t be said for Jacob, who maintained a constant look of having run ten laps around Central Park. 

Tina fell in love with Ralph as quickly as a click of the fingers. He seemed to like her, too, as much as a newborn could show. He was quiet with her, sat on her lap and played with her necklace and her rings.

It was too much for Newt to bear at times. 

“Hey, man. You good?” Jacob asked him one night as he climbed up the escape. 

They’d been sat on the fire exit together, side by side. The sky was turning orange like a tiger lily, flecked with white as the stars began to appear. A cool breeze drifted along, ruffling Newt’s hair gently.

“I just-” Newt hesitated, looking out over the city skyline. “I needed some air.”

“I get it. It’s pretty stuffy in there, right?” Jacob chuckled, shrugging his work jacket off. “We need to get a bigger place.”

Newt wasn’t sure if Jacob was mocking him or just hadn’t sensed anything wrong.

Jacob took a deep breath in. “Look, Newt. Queenie asked me to talk to you.”

“You needn’t bother yourself, Jacob, I’m fine.” 

“It doesn’t take magic to know that something between you and Tina has been off lately. Hell, I’ll bother myself as much as I want, you’re my wife’s brother-in-law so you’re basically my brother-in-law, too.”

“Tina wants a child of her own.” Newt answered after a moment, staring at the traffic bustling about on the ground below.

“And you …” Jacob trailed off, trying to decide on the most tactful way to put it. “Can’t give her one?”

Newt flushed at the implication. “No- no, I can. As far as I’m aware, atleast.”

“Then what’s holding you back? I know things are looking a bit shaky over with the Jerrys- ”

“It’s Grindelwald.” 

“You’re afraid he’s going to come after you? Newt, it’s been like half a decade.” Jacob said in disbelief. “He hasn’t even been in Britain. Queenie says he’s frightened of some guy called Dumbledore.”

“He is, but how long will that hold? I can’t place the life of a child, my child, on the hope that Grindelwald has forgotten about me.”

The other man was silent for a minute. “Nothing I say is going to change your mind, is it?”

Despite himself, Newt smiled a little. “No, but you’re an honorable man for trying.”

Jacob grinned back at him. “Thanks, Newt.”

There were few circumstances under which Newt would ever consider moving to America, he loved Britain too much, but being out there with Jacob and Queenie, and now Ralph, made him waver. He liked this, this close-knit family that they’d built together, although there were many thousands of miles between them normally. 

“Right,” Newt started, beginning to push himself up onto his feet. “I’m going to go and see Tina.”

“Let’s give the ladies some space to talk, too, shall we?” Jacob put his hand on Newt’s shoulder firmly. “We’ll go somewhere and leave them be for a while.”

The magizoologist hesitated, before resigning himself to an excursion with Jacob. Tina saw her sister precious little. Perhaps some time alone with Queenie would do her good.

“Alright,” Newt sighed. “Where do you want to go?”

“Uh, surprise me, Mr Scamander.”

And with that, Newt apparated off of the fire exit with Jacob in tow, to wherever his mind took him. 

A floor below, Tina jumped at the sound, as did Ralph. It was only Queenie that didn’t seem surprised as she stood at the kitchen counter, stirring a hot drink for her and her sister.

“Tina, are you and Newt getting on okay?” 

Tina looked up from her book. A bolt of anger shot through her quickly, there and gone before she’d had time to comprehend. 

“You’re the Legilimens, you tell me.” she replied sharply, going back to her page to avoid her sister’s eyes.

“I don’t want to read your mind. I want you to be honest with me.” Queenie retorted stubbornly, straightening up as she perched on the armchair.

“What’s there to say? That Newt and I aren’t 100% happy that we can’t have children?”

“Because of Grindelwald?” 

“Germany, too.” Tina muttered.

The ushering in of extremist politics in Germany made her feel uneasy. Who knows what the rest of 1931 was going to hold. Men like Hitler getting to power often ended in war and Britain wasn’t ready for that. The Depression was hitting hard. The Muggle army was down on their numbers, as was the country’s productivity. The Ministry wasn’t in much better shape. They were already at war with Gellert Grindelwald. People were going missing, turning up dead later on. The Auror Department was shrinking by the day. The last thing they needed was hot war with Germany. 

“The thing is with war,” Queenie said gently, setting a cup of coffee in front of her sister. “Is that it can go on for a real long time. You and Newt might be too old to have babies by the time the world quietens down. That’s if it ever does.”

“You know, Teen, life doesn’t just stop in the bad times. Things go on.”

Tina watched her nephew play on the rug, completely untroubled by the environment he’d been born into. Little Ralph Kowalski. His parents weren’t that different from him in that sense. Jacob and Queenie knew the world and all her dangers full well, but it just didn’t seem to trouble them. Tina was glad for them, that they could be that way. She envied it, even, but it infuriated her, too.

Queenie knew that. 

“Maybe Newt will change his mind one day.” Queenie said carefully. 

“Everyone has a selfish streak. It’s bigger in some, smaller in others, but we all have it. The need to content ourselves, even if the cost is irrational,” Tina leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Except Newt. Newt doesn’t have it.”

“He’s still human.” Her sister responded quietly, taking a delicate sip from her cup. 

When they finally left New York a few days later, Tina was devastated. 

Their house seemed quiet as a graveyard compared to the Kowalski residence. There was none of Queenie’s humming as she cooked or Ralph’s excited squealing, no fire crackling in the hearth, no radio playing in the background. The hollowness was suffocating. 

The silence made Newt want to scream.

Tina ran her hand over the flawless marble worktop, cool against her fingers, as Newt set down the last of their baggage.

“Newt.” His name came out of her mouth like a plea. Tina always thought she was coping until she wasn’t. Her sadness seemed to hit like a tsunami, filling her lungs and drowning her. 

“I’m going to the Amazon.” 

Tina took a sharp breath in, tears beginning to well up. “What?”

“I’ve finished every profile for the new edition of the book, except for the creatures that are native to the Amazon,” Newt refused to meet her sad, brown eyes. She’d open him up in a second if he did. 

One blink and the tears started to fall. “Please, don’t.”

It took Newt a moment to summon the courage to answer, to be as cold as his need for isolation required him to be. “I’m leaving the day after tomorrow.”

Tina knew well enough that Newt’s overseas work trips lasted indefinitely. Sometimes he’d be gone a week, sometimes months on end. It was for that reason that, when Newt had booked his passage to Brazil, he’d left himself a day to spend with Tina. In retrospect, that hadn’t been such a great idea. They didn’t speak to each other. She slept firmly on her side of the bed. 

Tina didn’t linger. She wasn’t there when he opened his eyes on the morning of his departure. She wasn’t there waving from the docks when his ship pulled away. That truly broke his heart. She’d done that for him since ‘26.

The defining factor of Newt and Tina’s partnership was that they were always there for each other, no matter the circumstance. To have that severed felt to Newt like his marriage had never even existed.

He felt it when he penned letters to Tina from the Amazon, sometimes two or three times a day, and got nothing in return. Newt had gone on this trip to escape the silence, but he’d only created another sort from someone who did exist. Someone who was definitely the love of Newt’s life. 

That still did not make him brave enough to go home. 

Newt wasted weeks looking at beasts he’d studied a million times before. That normally never deterred him, but everything he seemed to do was hollow right about then. He observed, wrote, sketched, cataloged some of the world’s most incredible creatures without enjoying a thing. Not even his expulsion from Hogwarts, what Leta had done to him, all those years ago had made him feel this way.

It was only on his seventh week out in the Amazon did he experience something real, and it wasn’t pleasant.

It had been a normal day. He’d rolled out of his hammock at 5:30am, ate a lukewarm bowl of porridge at the rickety table in his tent while he flipped through some sketches from yesterday. An owl, a Eurasian eagle on that day, dropped the latest issue of the Daily Prophet in front of him. He took a passing glance at it. The headline read:

Eleven Ministry Aurors killed in Grindelwald Attack.

Newt had scrambled to open the paper, eyes tearing frantically through the report. It was headline news, but not much detail, as it was with most events that involved the Ministry. All that was certain was that a mission to apprehend Gellert Grindelwald had gone drastically wrong. Eleven out of the team of fifteen were dead. Condition of the survivors were unknown, as were names. 

Newt had never struck a camp so fast in all his life. 

He didn’t bother with a boat. It would take him too long. He did the reckless thing and apparated country to country. Brazil to Senegal to Spain to Calais and then right into his empty living room. 

It was exactly as he’d left it nearly two months ago. The grandfather clock was still ticking. Tina’s coat was still draped on the armchair, a cold cup of coffee on the table. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for a glittering on the mantelpiece that caught Newt’s eye.

Tina’s rings, on closer inspection. Her engagement and wedding bands piled neatly on top of one another.

Tina never took those rings off. 

The air was stolen from Newt’s lungs as he stared at his wife’s abandoned rings. His chest felt as those it were imploding, overcome by a crushing pain in his heart that made him seize. So this was grief. Full of unbearable hurt, inexplicable anger and far too much regret. 

Newt had always known that Tina had the power to kill him. Such was the consequence of true love. That was when Newt started to cry, for the first time in years. All his pent up emotions expressed in guttural sobs that tore from his body. Newt truly felt that he was dying in that moment and he would have gone with Death gladly over the pain, over living a long life without Tina. 

He barely heard her voice over his own racket.

“Newt?” 

There she was, in the kitchen doorway. His Tina, dropping a bucket to the floor when he turned to face her. 

Newt’s breath was heavy, tears still streaming down his face. His nails dug deep crescents into his palms. “Why aren’t you wearing your rings?” His voice was so high pitched, he was virtually screaming at her. 

Tina flinched back at the sound. “I- I was taking water to the Niffler. I didn’t want him to steal them.” she stammered.

And then, as if he’d been injected with a sedative, Newt’s rage was washed away. It left him with relief, that Tina was okay, that he was here with her. He saw her. Tina had never been so beautiful, dressed in her navy waistcoat with its silver chain and a white shirt underneath. Dark brown hair straightened, tucked behind her ear.

Nothing else needed to be said. He found Tina in his arms, where she belonged. Her head buried into his shoulder, hands clutching the fabric of his coat tightly. Newt murmured a series of sentences into her hair over and over again.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I thought you were dead.”

“I love you.”

Tina didn’t need to hear them right now. She had wondered if Newt would ever come home. To have him here with her was the only comfort she needed.

It was for that reason that it took her a few moments to notice the blood.

Newt was bleeding from several areas of his body. He had apparated between continents without stopping, she realised. Newt had been splinched. A few times, actually. On his shoulder, his right forearm, lower left leg. 

“Newt, what have you done?” Tina whispered, staring at the crimson stain growing on his shoulder as she pulled away slowly. 

He shook his head as if to say it didn’t matter. 

If Tina could have had her way, she would have dragged her husband to St. Mungo’s to be treated immediately, but it was out of the question. This many splinch wounds, that deep, on an experienced apparater like Newt would raise unwanted questions. She couldn’t use her wand either. Her job in the Ministry meant that her spell casting was checked at the beginning and end of the day. The strong, complex healing Newt needed would trigger alarm bells. Tina had to stitch and bandage him up herself. He didn’t make a sound of complaint but the scars left behind would be awful. Tina fought the desire to burst into tears every minute of the whole horrible affair.

Newt was battered, sore and as emotionally worn-out as he’d ever been. That didn’t stop him making love to Tina that night. He needed to feel her familiar form beneath him, her warm breath on his neck, her hands running up and down the bare skin of his back. 

He was a little less careful with her than usual. 

It took Tina a while to register that something was off. Having Newt back distracted her. It was as it had been in the early days of their marriage. Happiness on the border of delirium. Her job at the Auror Office was going well, they were closing in on Grindelwald more each day and she had her husband at home waiting for her. 

It was only when she entered the second week of vomiting up her breakfast that she had the thought. 

It was another week before Tina pushed a positive potion towards Newt. It wasn’t a surprise to him. He’d had his suspicions before it had even dawned on Tina.

“What now?” 

Tina was at war with herself. The moral part of herself was disgusted that she could be so foolish as to get pregnant in such troubling times. The other part, the more selfish part, was thrilled at the news that she was finally carrying her and Newt’s child. But the viability of this would depend on Newt. 

Newt was hard to read. His head was down as he stared at the iris purple liquid blankly, swirling it around in the bottle. “We get out of London. Go somewhere safer.” he said finally.

“We’re doing this?” Tina asked tentatively.

Newt set the potion back down on the table and lifted his head, eyes meeting hers directly. “We’re doing this.” he murmured back. 

“What are you thinking?”

“Life has to go on. This wasn’t preferable but it’s happened,” Newt exhaled, putting his hand on top of Tina’s. “I refuse to take it as anything less than good news.”

“You’re going to be a father, Newt.”

A small, shaky smile appeared on Newt’s face. 

Their move out of London was remarkably quick. It was easiest for Newt. He had his livelihood already packed. Literally. Tina had more to go through. At the announcement of her pregnancy, she’d been put on consultancy and paperwork only. Her boss was less than thrilled at losing one of his senior Aurors during such trying times but there wasn’t much to be done about it. 

Tina found them their new home. A large farmhouse in the Dorset countryside. It was out of the way but had Floo network connections so Tina could use it when she went back into active duty. There was plenty of land for Newt’s creatures if he ever wanted to dispense of the case. There was a beautiful master bedroom for them, a nursery for the baby and a few guest rooms for Jacob and Queenie to take up if they ever visited.

Those rooms came into use far sooner than Newt and Tina had expected.

Tina received her weekly letter from her sister, announcing that Ralph was going to get a little sibling in the late spring. The next time Tina heard from her sister was when she was standing on her doorstep in the rain, with her family and a few of their possessions.

The MACUSA had caught up with them. 

“We’ll be out of your hair as soon as we can find our own place.” Queenie said over breakfast one morning.

“I said don’t worry about it, Queenie. We’ve plenty of room to spare.” Tina replied dismissively as she poked at her bowl of porridge.

“Still, we wouldn’t want to be in your way once the baby’s here. That’s for you guys to enjoy on your own,” The blonde witch persisted, both at the conversation and trying to feed Ralph an apple slice. 

Jacob nodded his agreement. “How long do you have left, Tina?”

“Two months and three weeks.” 

The last few months had been a whirlwind to the Scamanders. Tina was now six months into her pregnancy but she was already tired of it. It had been nicer than Tina expected but the changes in her body still bothered her. She was slow and uncoordinated. Her back seemed to constantly protest at the extra weight she was carrying. She couldn’t eat what she wanted; some things would make her ill. Her abdomen had swollen prolifically, setting a defined curve in even the loosest of Tina’s clothes. Her belly fascinated Newt. In fact, everything about her seemed to fascinate Newt at the moment. She’d never admit it, but she was enjoying the attention that her husband was showering on her.

“It’ll go like that, I promise you.” Queenie snapped her fingers.

“Well,” Tina eased herself into a chair opposite Newt. “Not quick enough.” she muttered.

Newt smiled into his cereal. Considering his original misgivings, Newt was taking this all remarkably well. He was clearly getting excited. In the moments where he wasn’t fussing over her, he was fixing up the nursery or baby-proofing other areas of the house. The only thing they hadn’t prepared was a name. They were both of the opinion that they’d know when they met their baby.

The Kowalskis did eventually find their place in Britain. In Dorset, too, oddly enough. They bought a nice little three-bed in the biggest town. Jacob set up a new bakery and it was, naturally, a hit with the townsfolk within days.

It seemed to Tina that her two biggest wishes were being fulfilled. She and Newt were having a child that they wanted. Queenie was close to her again.

When the baby finally arrived, at 8:03am on the 9th of December 1931, it seemed that all their preparation wasn’t worth much at all.

Tina hadn’t recognised her first contractions for what they were, assuming they were just hicks. It was, after all, a week before her due date. Over the course of a few hours, though, the pain become too strong and lasted for too long to write off as practise contractions. Newt kept extraordinarily calm in that first stage, even when her water broke. 

It was the parts after arriving at the hospital that Newt struggled to recall. He remembered practically carrying Tina to a bed. How tightly she had held onto his hand. The noise she had made, moaning and whimpering and ragged breathing. The screaming, towards the end. 

The sun was just beginning to rise when Tina finally managed to deliver their child into the world. For a moment, the baby hadn’t cried, leaving both Newt and Tina alone in a skin-crawling moment of silence.   
Their child, their son, started to wail soon after.

In the last three months of Tina’s pregnancy, they received two bouts of terrible news. In late September, Newt received a telegram from the Ministry to inform him that his elder brother, Theseus Scamander, had been killed in yet another futile attempt to apprehend Grindelwald.

In November, Tina got word that her old boss, Percival Graves, had also fallen victim to Gellert Grindelwald. Newt had asked her once, before they were married, if she’d ever had a romantic relationship with Graves. Tina said almost.

They named him Perseus. Perseus Newton Scamander, and he was the most beautiful thing that Newt had ever beheld. 

He mostly took after Tina. He had her dark hair. Glossy and thick, smooth as silk. His skin was her porcelain color, once the ruddiness had faded, free of any freckles. He had Newt’s eyes though, a strange off-blue like sea water. Newt couldn’t stop looking at him. He was sold the moment that Tina asked if he wanted to hold him.

Perseus seemed content with them both, snoozing in the crook of Newt’s elbow, swaddled in snow white blankets from his aunt Queenie. Newt had climbed onto the bed with Tina and she lay against him, head on his shoulder.

“What do we do now?” she whispered to him, stroking a finger across Perseus’ little hand. 

“The nurse says we can take him home.” Newt said softly in reply, but that seemed like the most terrifying thing to him. He was so in love with his son, but also terrified of him. Jacob said that was normal. 

“That’s scary.” Tina echoed his thoughts. 

“I know, but we’ll take care of him.” 

Newt turned his eyes back to his baby son. He’d lost count how many times he’d done that already. 

“You’ll be just fine, won’t you, Perseus? It breaks my heart that the world isn’t as good as you deserve, but it isn’t all bad, I promise. The world is full of some amazing things and they’re all around you. I’ll teach you to see them. I swear that I will. You can do the things that they never did. That I never did. Or you can do none of it, if that’s what you want. I won’t ever mind, so long as you’re happy. That’s what matters, really. All I’m ever going to want is for you to be happy. Can you do that for me? We’ll see.   
But of all the things I’ve seen in this mad world, you are certainly the most fantastic.”


End file.
